LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
2012 was an important year for RIDC – rebalancing our portfolio,
bringing on new staff members and refining our strategic focus
to help us execute some of the largest development projects in
the region. RIDC is making these changes to fulfill our mission of
enabling high-quality job creation and tax base enhancement in
the Pittsburgh region, and ensuring that RIDC will be a key player
in Pittsburgh’s next wave of growth, as it has been for the past 57
years.
RIDC has been shedding non-strategic assets that no longer meet
our mission. We are focusing our efforts on a new and ambitious
era of development which includes: redeveloping the two-million
plus square foot RIDC Westmoreland facility into a multi-tenant
facility; establishing the Almono site in Hazelwood, the largest urban
brownfield, as a new riverfront community; developing Innovation
Ridge in Marshall Township for high-tech companies; and continuing
to redevelop the Mon Valley to restore manufacturing jobs in those
communities.
With our past and current work, RIDC has become the premier brownfield redevelopment entity in
the region, enabling Pittsburgh to return investment and jobs to communities that have experienced
the largest employment losses. Our strong relationships with municipal, county, and state partners
enable us to redevelop these properties and meet the needs of a growing economy.
As the economy improves, we are seeing tenants and companies starting to expand again with
an 11 percent increase in employment in our tenants’ facilities from last year. Many of our
tenant companies are growing in the technology fields that are the underpinning of Pittsburgh’s
revitalization – Aquion Energy, Dynamics, Seegrid, and Precision Therapeutics are just a few
examples. RIDC continues its long-standing focus on assisting these types of companies and others
by providing the real estate options they need to grow their businesses.

RIDC is an organization with
a strong past and a promising
future. RIDC has been helping
to create jobs in Pittsburgh
since we formed in the 1950s,
and we are now retooling for
the next wave of this region’s
growth. During 2012, RIDC
focused on improving our
financial position and adding
new expertise to our staff to
put our organization in a better
position to aid in Pittsburgh’s
resurgence.

Mark Aloe, Managing Member, Aloe Brothers LLC

RIDC’s contributions to the region’s economy over the years
have often been understated, but our efforts have been
critical for companies adding jobs in the region. An example
is RIDC’s sale this year of a property to Tsudis Chocolate, a
regional success story, which had been leasing the facility.
While this looks like a simple transaction, the story behind
the company and their growth in Pittsburgh demonstrates
the critical role that RIDC plays in the region’s growth.
In the mid 1980s, RIDC intervened to buy a property to
help retain the Clark Candy Company in the region. Several
years later, they moved out of the region and RIDC began
working with a local company, Tsudis Chocolate, to move
into the building and grow their jobs and investment in the
community. In order to help the new company, who had 35
employees at the time, RIDC worked to offer them low rental
rates. Over the years, Tsudis continued to grow, employing
over 200 full-time workers and expanding production to
include chocolates and nutrition products. In 2012, after
RIDC’s investment of over 25 years, Tsudis purchased
the building in order to further their thriving business –
continuing their expansion and hiring more workers.
The Tsudis story is just one example of how RIDC supports
regional job growth through a long-term, patient and flexible
approach to real estate. And with our renewed focus and
smarter position, RIDC is ready to continue to support
Pittsburgh’s growth well into the future.

In 2012, RIDC continued to sponsor financing packages for companies growing in
our region. RIDC undertook major capital investments, especially in brownfield
projects and had a successful year in sales and leasing, helping the organization
to better focus efforts on a new era of development.

REDEVELOPMENT & SITE PREP
Keystone Commons

RIDC undertook an additional investment in the Keystone Commons
manufacturing facility in 2012. The high-bay East Shop rehabilitation was
completed with state support, providing the 300,000 square-foot facility with
new siding and gutters, a new roof, interior painting, and remeditation.
In addition, RIDC completed the total restoration of Portal 5 to support
manufacturing operations. The project â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which included replacing the asphalt
paving with heavy-duty concrete, widening the entrance, and improving
stormwater infrastructure â&#x20AC;&#x201C; allows vehicles to deliver raw materials and goods
and exit with large, highly-specialized finished products.

Duquesne & McKeesport Land Prep

With state and federal assistance, RIDC began a large investment on the
continued site preparation at the City Center of Duquesne, removing
foundations, filling holes, and grassing the newly prepared areas. RIDC also
completed site preparation in the Industrial Center of McKeesport paving the
way for new manufacturing facilities.

Wetlands, Stormwater & Trail in Marshall Township

In mid 2012, RIDC undertook wetland and stream mitigation work at Thorn
Hill Industrial Park in order to maximize the developable acreage within the
park by increasing wetland areas in non-buildable areas. The scope of work
included the removal of Japanese Knotweed from the stream area (an invasive
species in North America), increasing the area of wetland located in and
around the Brush Creek area of the site, and re-sculpting the shoreline along
certain identified bends within Brush Creek to avoid any future significant
creek bank erosion.

Lawrenceville Redevelopment & New Road

RIDC constructed a new road and relating infrastructure that extends 47th
Street and turns to intersect 48th Street to allow for future development
on the site. RIDC also further progressed environmental remediation and
redevelopment with state assistance.

4

5

SALES
RIDC closed two sales in 2012 in the RIDC Industrial Park
in O’Hara Township. Tsudis Chocolate Company bought
the building they had leased since 2002, allowing them
to increase their production capabilities. RIDC also sold
the 260 Alpha Drive facility, former home of Zambrano
Construction, to Practical Administrative Solutions who
will lease the facility to Grane Hospice Care and Home
Health Care to enable them to meet the demands of
their recent market expansions.

FINANCING ASSISTANCE
Since the 1960s, RIDC has sponsored $197,600,000 in loans for 254 businesses
that have directly resulted in 13,291 new jobs and have catalyzed over $600
million in private investment. RIDC continued this financing in 2012 to support
businesses in our region as they expand.
Financing

Portal reconstruction
Renovation of the East Shop
Development of production
facilities for Aquion Energy
Tenant building improvements
for Aquion Energy

FOREIGN-TRADE ZONE #33

$2,250,000

RIDC sold its West Hills Commons, a 30,000 squarefoot facility in Armstrong County’s West Hills Industrial
Park. The new building owner is an orthopedic surgeon
partnering with Armstrong Memorial Hospital to expand
services for the local area.
A 16-acre parcel was purchased from RIDC at Innovation
Ridge for over 100 executive townhomes to be called the
Village at Marshall, making the site a prime live-workplay destination.

RIDC applied and was approved for an expansion of FTZ #33. The
FTZ expansion application added a site at RIDC Westmoreland to
support manufacturing growth.
• Leedsworld, a tenant in RIDC Westmoreland is currently
pursuing activation at that site.
• FTZ designation was achieved for Tsudis’s property in O’Hara
Township, which they purchased from RIDC. With the new
designation, they will be able to import liquid chocolate from
Canada and export their chocolate bars back to Canada.

6

• Subzone 33D–Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, Inc. was
activated in March, 2012 and has begun utilizing the FTZ
designation.

7

MANUFACTURING
DIVISION

COMPANY PROFILE
Holtec manufacturing division makes
products for spent nuclear fuel
storage systems and transfer as well
as heat exchangers. The company
supplies large power generators and
is looking to expand into the small
nuclear modular reactor market,
which provides a shorter, smaller,
and more secure process of nuclear
power generation for places in the
United States as well as developing
countries.

The global company, headquartered
in New Jersey, purchased the RIDCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
tenant U.S. Tool & Die in 2004 and
took over their operations, changing
the name officially to Holtec in 2006.
Now employing over 350 workers at
their Keystone Commons facility, their
location has provided them with the
flexibility to grow as they enter new
markets and continue to expand.

COMPANY PROFILE

The Aquion team has been working
closely with the RIDC team to build
out their manufacturing facility. They
currently have the first piece of their
line installed, with over 35 workers
providing functional and maintenance
support. They plan to have over 100
employees in the facility by the end of
the year and could grow to as many as
350 workers by the end of 2015.

COMPANY
PROFILE
Aquion Energy was founded by
a Carnegie Mellon University
professor. Aquion Energy is
developing a sodium-ion aqueous
electrolyte battery that will enhance
the electrical grid by providing
flexible, emissions-free capacity
that optimizes existing generation
assets and enables broad adoption
of renewable energy technologies.
Aquionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision in 2012 to locate
their first large-scale manufacturing
facility in RIDC Westmoreland was a
major win for the Pittsburgh region,
as well as for Aquion.
8

The proximity to their R&D and corporate
headquarters in the Lawrenceville neighborhood
in Pittsburgh has been invaluable for the growing
start-up company. Staff can easily come out to the
new facility and new employees can spend time at
the Lawrenceville office for training and culturebuilding.

ProMinent provides water
metering technology, disinfection
equipment and related control
equipment for municipal,
industrial, and commercial uses.
The Pittsburgh facility assembles
the equipment and serves the
entire United States market.
ProMinent, a German company,
was originally recruited to
Pittsburgh by the Penn Southwest
organization. When it purchased
property in the RIDC Park West in
the early 1990s, the company had
started with 20 employees at their
new facility.
After expanding in their current
facility multiple times, they now
have 110 employees and are
planning to build a new facility
on an adjacent parcel in the park,
allowing them to expand their
production yet again.
9

THE RIDC MISSION
The Regional Industrial Development
Corporation of Southwestern
Pennsylvania (RIDC) is recognized
as one of Pennsylvania’s largest and
most successful private, not-for-profit
economic development corporations.
Established in 1955, the RIDC was
formed to foster new employment
opportunities and to diversify the
regional economy of southwestern
Pennsylvania.
The mission of the RIDC is to catalyze
and support economic growth and highquality job creation through real estate
development and finance of projects
that advance the public interest. Today,
RIDC owns over 1,300 acres of land in
various suburban and urban industrial

Foreign-Trade
Zone #33
administered by

East Pittsburgh & Turtle Creek, PA
McKeesport, PA
Duquesne, PA

Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh, PA

Neshannock Township, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
Marshall Township, PA

East Huntington Township, PA

SERVICES WE PROVIDE
Development Services

RIDC utilizes a comprehensive approach to coordinate
a development project from conceptual design
through completion and occupancy. RIDC also offers
effective property management. RIDC can provide
build to suit development services for any variety
of projects from the traditional office and industrial
developments to lab and R&D design.

Financial Assistance Services

A wide range of RIDC services is designed to
accommodate the varied needs of a modern day
business, including assistance with machinery
and equipment financing needed to stimulate
growth. Special emphasis is placed upon new, small
and growing business enterprises, as well as the
encouragement of applied research and development
activities and partnership with our region’s leading
academic institutions.

Foreign-Trade Zone

RIDC was granted the charter of administering FTZ
#33 in 1977, which offers incentives to manufacturing
companies in the United States. FTZ #33 is comprised
of 17 general-purpose zone sites consisting of over
7,300 acres stretching throughout southwestern
Pennsylvania. FTZ #33 has aided in attracting
additional manufacturing jobs and businesses to the
region as well as supporting existing industries by
providing duty and tax savings.

Suburban Industrial Parks
When the Regional Industrial Development
Corporation was formed in the 1950s, there
was a boom in light industry happening
all over the country. Because Pittsburgh’s
heavy industries were using most of the
flat, buildable land, the region was at an
economic disadvantage. Many of the large
Pittsburgh corporations realized Pittsburgh
needed more pad-ready sites for light
industrial companies to expand and thrive
in southwestern Pennsylvania, so they
contributed to seed-funding RIDC and to
engineer deals with civic leaders for the
first three industrial parks – RIDC Park in
O’Hara Township, Thorn Hill Industrial Park,
and RIDC Park West in the airport corridor.
As well as completing infrastructure
development, RIDC catalyzed the parks by
constructing some of the first buildings.
As new highways opened up, the parks
became extremely successful and are
still some of the largest concentrations
of employment in the region. Unlike
many other business parks in the region
which mainly offer Class A office space,
RIDC’s focus is on accommodating light
manufacturing, distribution, R&D, and
assembly-type operations – businesses
that advance the region’s export economy.
The companies in these three parks make
medical devices, automobile innovations,
chocolate, and everything in between.

12

Tsudis Chocolate - A Regional Success Story
RIDC closed two sales in 2012 in the RIDC Industrial
Park in O’Hara Township. Tsudis Chocolate Company,
who had leased the 97,500 square-foot building from
RIDC for the last ten years, bought the property at
610 Alpha Drive. The story of the facility showcases
the critical but often hidden influence RIDC has on the
region’s economy.
RIDC purchased the property in the mid-1980s to help
retain Clark Candy Company in the region. Clark Candy
Company operated the facility for several years before
they were purchased by NECCO and subsequently
moved out of the region. Tsudis Chocolate started in
2002 and moved to RIDC Park after it purchased the
assets of Penhurst Candy, which was owned by Spiro
and Marjorie Tsudis, the parents of the current Tsudis
Chocolate owner. It started with 35 employees and
has grown to employ over 200 full-time employees.
Tsudis Chocolate’s business has now expanded
production to nutrition products. In the past three
years, Tsudis has doubled its sales and employment as
a result of this strategic business line addition. With
the purchase of the building, the company plans to
make building changes that will lead to an addition to
production capabilities and increase employment to
more than 275 full-time workers.

The Commons at Thorn Hill
RIDC undertook a joint venture with the Elmhurst
Group to develop the Commons at Thorn Hill in
Cranberry Township. The project, which broke ground
in May of 2012, is a 96,800 square-foot project in
two buildings. The buildings will be flexible space
configurations that can accommodate a wide range
of uses, including single story offices, R&D and light
manufacturing.
13

The Monongahela Valley region,
which was the center of Pittsburgh’s
steel industry, was especially
devastated when the industry
collapsed in the 1970s. Left with
large tracts of abandoned steel mills,
the region realized it needed new
tools and a new approach to return
these properties to productive use.
RIDC worked with its state, county
and local partners to design a statewide Brownfields program that
would make it easier to remediate
and fund their redevelopment.
Pennsylvania’s approach to clean-up
standards and financial incentives
was and still is considered one of
the nation’s leading brownfield
revitalization efforts.

City Center of
Duquesne

1989
US Steel McKeesport
National Works
128 acres

1990
US Steel
Duquesne Works
255 acres

33 acres

60 acres

$56 million

$40 million

853,395 SF

239,378 SF

367

641

$376,200

$232,000

Industrial Center of
McKeesport, 2012

Dura-Bond invested $12 million in a new manufacturing
facility in 2012. The facility, which coats steel pipe for
natural gas transmission, has seen an increase in the
demand with the emergence of the Marcellus and
Utica Shale gas production. The location in Duquesne
provided Dura-Bond with close proximity to their
suppliers and customers, as well as access to rail and
river transport. Their coating provides an insulation
to pipe that will eventually be placed underground for
natural gas transport, preventing it from corrosion. The
facility coats approximately 35,000 feet of pipe per day
and has over 70 employees on site.

After the RIDC undertook selective
demolition, environmental
remediation efforts, and building
rehabilitation, the Duquesne
and McKeesport sites have been
transformed into attractive business
and manufacturing centers, home to
over 1,000 jobs.

14

Industrial Center of
McKeesport

Industrial Center of
McKeesport, late 1980s

15

CREATIVE REUSE
Multi-Tenant Facilities

After over 100 years of operation,
Westinghouse closed its East Pittsburgh
plant in the late 1980s. The site had
important historical importance, not
only as a place of 20,000 jobs, but also as
the location of the first radio broadcast.
Without the Westinghouse operation,
the community was faced with a vacant
complex and the huge loss of employment.
After RIDC purchased the site, it created a
development plan with state, county, and
local support that included a creative idea to
redevelop the complex into a multi-tenant
center – a plan that would provide the
community with greater job stability.
The West Machine Shop was transformed
from a high-bay factory to an urban
industrial mall – an innovative model (later
replicated in Eastern Europe) that created
an additional mezzanine of offices and
offered tenants a storefront and the amenity
of driving and parking through the main
bay. Today the complex, now called RIDC
Keystone Commons, is home to more than
30 companies and is considered one of the
most successful redevelopment projects in
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
In 2010, RIDC was approached with a
similar challenge and opportunity when
the Sony Corporation decided to close
its Westmoreland manufacturing facility,
leaving 2.8 million square feet of vacant
space. RIDC decided to incorporate the
successful approach used at Keystone
Commons to rehabilitate the facility, now
called RIDC Westmoreland, into a multitenant manufacturing hub.
16

RIDC Westmoreland Transformation Underway
The conversion of the former Sony plant is
already under way with RIDC attracting largescale manufacturers.
• Aquion Energy, a Carnegie Mellon spinout
with potential to create as many as 350
jobs in the next five years, chose the
Westmoreland facility to build out space for
its manufacturing plant.

The East Shop at Keystone Commons
RIDC undertook additional investment in the Keystone Commons manufacturing facility in 2012. The
East Shop rehabilitation and remediation was completed with state support, providing the 300,000
square-foot facility with new siding and gutters, a new roof, and interior painting. Holtec recently leased
part of the building, further expanding their facility at Keystone Commons. In addition, RIDC completed
the total restoration of Portal 5. The project – which included replacing the asphalt paving with heavyduty concrete, widening the entrance, and improving stormwater infrastructure – allows vehicles to
deliver raw materials and goods and exit with large, highly-specialized finished products.

• DNP IMS America planned its expansion in
RIDC Westmoreland to add a coating line.
The company, which has 150 employees,
makes thermal transfer ribbons that are used
in printing bar codes.
• Westmoreland County Community College
signed a lease to open a training site in the
facility, offering companies an opportunity to
have employees trained under the same roof.

State, local, and federal programs are
helping RIDC attract high-quality jobs to the
Westmoreland facility. The RIDC Westmoreland
facility was also authorized as a Keystone
Opportunity Expansion Zone (KOEZ) that will
offer local and state tax incentives that can
help attract manufacturers to the region. In
addition, the site was also designated as a
Foreign-Trade Subzone, allowing manufacturers
to take advantage of duty cost savings and
benefits.

RIDC continues to attract and support hightech companies that are contributing to the
job growth and innovation in our region.
The Pittsburgh Technology Center and the
Collaborative Innovation Center are two of
RIDC’s facilities that are building upon their
university partnerships and attracting the
nation’s leading high-tech firms.
Part of the former LTV Steel site, located less
than a mile from the academic and research
center of Oakland, was redeveloped into the
Pittsburgh Technology Center (PTC), now
the location of thousands of high-paying
jobs. RIDC built two riverfront buildings
in the PTC. Tenants include Ansaldo STS,
Catalyst Connection, the National Cyber
Forensics Training Center, and the Pittsburgh
Technology Council.
On Carnegie Mellon University’s campus,
RIDC built a dry-lab research facility called
the Collaborative Innovation Center (CIC) to
provide office and lab space for technology
companies wishing to collaborate with
Carnegie Mellon to create innovative new
concepts and products for the marketplace.
The building was the first Pittsburgh home
of Google, who recently expanded to Bakery
Square. Currently, Apple, Disney, and Intel
occupy space in this innovative facility.

CIC Renamed to Honor Former CMU President
The Collaborative Innovation Center (CIC ) was
officially renamed to the Robert Mehrabian
Collaborative Innovation Center in honor of the
former Carnegie Mellon University President
who oversaw its creation and played a vital role
in facilitating tech start-ups and bringing industry
to the region. RIDC President Donald F. Smith,
Jr. provided remarks at the renaming ceremony.
(Image Source: Carnegie Mellon University)

19

URBAN JOB
CENTERS

Lawrenceville Technology Center Development
Along with expansions of companies into the Chocolate Factory, RIDC
undertook environmental work and construction of a road on the
former Heppenstall property. RIDC also participated on the advisory
panel for the Allegheny Riverfront Green Boulevard
plan, a collaboration of local agents and property
owners funded by a Sustainable Communities
federal grant. The plan calls for redevelopment
of the 43rd Street District into research and
development, light industrial, residential, retail, and
a new riverfront park.

Development in the City
The collapse of Pittsburgh’s steel industry left
the city with the liability of large abandoned
brownfield sites on some of its most visible
riverfront real estate. Facing this challenge
and the opportunity to revitalize these
valuable properties, Pittsburgh has become
a leader in brownfield redevelopment, with
RIDC as a main partner.

A notional rendering of the Almono Eco-Tech Park
district, which will feature clean industrial uses

In Lawrenceville, RIDC remediated the former
Heppenstall Steel site, including demolition of
several blighted buildings, and rehabilitated
a former Chocolate Factory into a high-tech
office and lab facility. The properties are now
part of a robotics hub that has developed
around Carnegie Mellon’s National Robotics
Engineering Center (NREC).
Redevelopment has begun on the final section
of the former LTV site, owned by the Almono
partnership with RIDC as the managing
partner, which will create a truly mixed-use
development of office, light industrial, and
residential uses.

Year Acquired
Former Use
Type of Space
Parcels to be Developed
RIDC Square Footage
(existing)
Jobs in RIDC Facilities
RIDC Real Estate Taxes
20

A view of the Lawrenceville Technology Center, which is
less than 4 miles to downtown Pittsburgh

Almono: “Dirt in 2013, Vertical in 2014!”
With over 50 meetings with individuals in leadership, community members, and service partners,
2012 was a busy and critical year for Almono. As the vision process was completed the previous
year, the team is now working towards implementation of the mixed-use riverfront development,
which included rezoning and Phase I infrastructure design.
The Almono project received $5.5 million in Commonwealth grants and loans for infrastructure
work. In addition to the investment by the Almono partners, the state money will enable RIDC to
build the skeletal framework for new infrastructure at the Hazelwood site, opening the entire site
up for development. During 2012, the team awarded the initial engineering contract, completed
a traffic study, started the process of rezoning the site to a Special Planned (SP) district, applied for
Tax Increment Financing (TIF), celebrated the opening of a temporary bike trail through the site, and
further engaged with the community. Infrastructure work is slated to begin in 2013, with vertical
development expected in 2014.
21

HIGH-TECH
INNOVATION

Armstrong County Sale
RIDC sold its West Hills Commons, a 30,000
square-foot facility in Armstrong County’s
West Hills Industrial Park. The building has
been serving as a medically focused facility and
supports the local hospital, a skilled workforce,
and is now a completely private sector
facility. RIDC had purchased the land from
the Armstrong County Industrial Development
Council (ACIDC) in June of 1999 and developed
West Hills Commons to provide a unique flex
space facility that would encourage additional
private investment in the park. Today the West
Hills Industrial Park houses over 20 companies.

Innovation Ridge is one of RIDC’s newest
development projects. Formerly called
Tech 21, the site was envisioned as a
premier technology and office park. These
high-paying technology sector jobs attract
young people to locate or remain in the
area, further strengthening the Pittsburgh
region.
Because of its experience in developing
the O’Hara, Thorn Hill and Park West
business and industrial parks, RIDC was
approached to take over the Innovation
Ridge development to see it through the
vision. In order to reignite the project,
RIDC is undertaking pad design and
marketing a highly visible pad for a hotel.
PennDOT, with the support of RIDC, has
started construction to widen and improve
Warrendale Bayne Road from I-79 to Route
19 to create two lanes in each direction.
They are also widening and improving a
section of Route 19 near the intersection
with Thorn Hill Road. The project should be
completed in 2013.

Year Acquired
Former Use
Number of Companies
Total Acreage
RIDC Real Taxes Paid

22

Velocity Magnetics

Infrastructure Improvements in 2012
In 2012, RIDC improved the trails at the Innovation
Ridge Business Park. A 16-acre parcel was also
purchased for over 100 executive townhomes to
be called the Village at Marshall, making the site a
premier live-work-play destination.

Started in owner Domenic Marzano’s garage
in 1999, Velocity Magnetics now has over 15
employees at its facility in the RIDC Neshannock
Business Park. Velocity both develops and
manufactures fail-safe magnetic systems that are
used in roller coasters, launch systems, people
movers, and other facilities all over the world.
Next time you travel to Cedar Point or Disney
World, you might be able to find this system
made in the Pittsburgh region!

REGIONAL
PRESENCE
RIDC has spurred regional economic
development by taking on projects with our
county partners. Combined with RIDC’s
development experience and partners’ local
connections, RIDC has assisted in the creation
of job centers in Lawrence, Beaver, Butler,
Armstrong, Allegheny and Westmoreland
counties.
RIDC owns Beaver Manor, a building in
Hopewell Business & Industrial Park which
houses over 70 jobs, and continues to
develop the Neshannock Business Park,
currently home to four companies. RIDC
has sold some of its land and buildings in
these areas once they became attractive
to the private market, notably this year the
West Hills building in Armstrong County, but
continues development and its commitment
to Southwestern Pennsylvania and regional
partners.